Ice
by sol-li
Summary: Hunting down a reported shard of the Shikon Jewel, Kagome finds that she can't exactly locate it. And when night falls, a vicious ice storm strikes and separates Inuyasha and Kagome from their friends, courtesy of a mysterious force...
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE  
  
*  
  
I'm gonna be late! Kagome thought, looking at the clock. School had ended fifteen minutes ago, but she was still cleaning the windows. She scrubbed harder, sprayed faster, and finally dropped her cleaning rag.  
  
"Done!" she called as she raced out the door. "I'll see you next week!"  
  
"Wait a minute," Eri called. "You're supposed to scrape the gum off the desks!"  
  
Kagome almost tripped on a janitor's mop. "Eri, do it for me please -- I'll pay you back next week!"  
  
"That's what you said LAST week!" Eri's voice faded away as Kagome raced out the door, almost running into a boy on a bicycle.  
  
Inuyasha's impatience had a tendency to peak if Kagome had spent more than a few hours on her side of the well. And when his emotions climaxed, he usually shot out of the well like a half-human cannonball and came running across the rooftops of Tokyo to find her.  
  
He needs to learn how to WAIT, Kagome thought, running down the steps. She'd more or less calculated when Hojo left his last class, and could avoid him if he tried to ask her out again.  
  
"Hey, Kagome!"  
  
Most of the time.  
  
Kagome forced herself to look cheerful as she turned around. It wasn't Hojo's fault -- he just couldn't take a hint, that was all. "Hi, Hojo," she said.  
  
The boy stopped his bike just beside her, smiling warmly. "I saw you rushing off from school. I hope that stomach problem isn't coming up again?"  
  
"No, no, it's fine," Kagome said weakly. "But I really need to run now. I'm... um... I have to go."  
  
Before Hojo could say anything, she turned and ran. If Inuyasha had turned up while she was talking, she could never have gone back to that high school. Explaining why a dog-eared boy in feudal-era clothing had leaped off a rooftop, raced down the road at superhuman speed, and carried her off? Kagome had gotten used to white lies, but explaining that away was way beyond her skills of imagination.  
  
She was openly panting as she ran up to the shrine. Inuyasha was just climbing out of the well.  
  
"I made it," Kagome gasped, dropping her backpack. "Don't get huffy with me, because I DID make it."  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, and dropped off the edge.  
  
He was waiting on the other side when she materialized in the well. Without another word, he grabbed her and leaped up and out.  
  
We've really gotten comfortable, she thought as he carried her on his back toward the village. I don't even need to say anything. Kind of a far cry from when he'd insult me for absolutely no reason.   
  
"Sango's been off lookin' for rumors about more jewel shards," Inuyasha said suddenly. "She said somethin' that didn't make sense right before she left."  
  
"Didn't make sense?"  
  
"A mountain that eats people." Inuyasha leaped over a stream. "To be honest, I wasn't paying attention."  
  
"Am I hearing this correctly? Somebody said something with the words 'jewel shards' in it, and you didn't pay attention?"  
  
"I was busy hitting the runt." Inuyasha bounced off a tree branch, and landed lightly on one of the village rooftops. He hefted Kagome higher on his back. "Besides, it sounds stupid to me."  
  
"And now you're getting skeptical?" Kagome said. "Weren't you the one who used to lecture me about all the weird things that go on here?"  
  
"Yeah, so I should know a stupid rumor when I hear one," Inuyasha retorted. "If there's anything there, there's just some demon like we've fought a thousand times before."  
  
"You're getting kind of complacent, aren't you?" Kagome looped her arms around Inuyasha's neck.  
  
"Am not." He ended the conversation by bounding down to Kaede's house and letting Kagome slide off his back.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Ice Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE  
  
*  
  
"Where's Kaede?" Kagome asked, kneeling by the hearth.   
  
"There was some woman having a baby and Kaede needed to help," Shippo said matter-of-factly. He sipped tea from a cup as big as his face. "How was your test?"  
  
"Not so amazing," Kagome said, as Inuyasha sat down beside her. "But I passed, and that means I don't need to do a makeup test later in the week."  
  
"I think you should just stop school for awhile," Shippo said, nibbling a dumpling. "That way you can travel with us all the time."  
  
"What he said," Inuyasha said gruffly. Miroku simply smiled.  
  
Kagome was saved from replying by the sound of a demon cat roaring in the distance. A moment later, Sango stepped in, with Kirara tripping lightly behind her feet.  
  
"How was your mission?" Miroku asked, crossing his arms. "Did you find any rumors of jewel shards?"  
  
"Not exactly," Sango said, kneeling opposite Kagome. She accepted a bowl of rice, and fed a little to Kirara. The tiny demon-cat purred and curled up in her mistress's lap.   
  
"Whaddaya mean, not exactly?" Inuyasha demanded. "It's a yes-or-no question."  
  
"I mean that there is something strange going on at that mountain," Sango said. "That can't be denied. From the sound of it, the mountain passes are always covered in snow -- even in the middle of summer -- and there are blizzards that cover it and the land around it every single night.   
  
"Some travellers and caravans have tried to beat paths through the snow, to establish routes. But something always happens -- either they have accidents and have to leave, or they simply vanish. Now, no one goes near to that mountain; they call it the Cursed Peak." She took a long sip of tea. "The villages nearby told me that there's a blight on their crops and animals. They blame it on the mountain."  
  
"So what, there's no Shikon shards?" Inuyasha demanded. "I don't see why this concerns us."  
  
"I'm not quite finished," Sango said calmly. "According to the villagers, the trouble started around the time the Shikon jewel was shattered."  
  
*  
  
"I don't see why you need to be back here." Inuyasha said, boosting Kagome out of the well. "You were just here, and now you wanna come back."  
  
Kagome looked back over the edge. "I need warmer clothes if we're going somewhere with snow. It's late summer, for crying out loud -- I can't go sauntering into snow wearing warm-weather stuff. I'll pick up a few things for Sango, Shippo, and Miroku too. Do you need anything?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Nothing?"  
  
"I'm half-demon, remember? I can stand the cold a lot better than you can." Inuyasha jumped out of the well and folded his arms. "Just hurry up."  
  
Kagome spent the next half-hour digging through boxes in the storehouse, pulling various winter items into a bag. It would be at least six months before anybody noticed the clothes were gone, and Sota's old baby jacket would never be missed. She'd slip everything back into its place when she returned. When she returned, Inuyasha was chasing bats around the mini-shrine, apparently out of boredom. "You done? Good," he said, holding out his hand for the bag.  
  
"I brought along some things for you too, just in case you change your mind," Kagome said, holding on to him as they jumped down. "Boots, for one thing. I guessed your size."  
  
"Feh."  
  
"Nice way to say 'thank you.'"  
  
Shippo was sitting on the edge of the well when they materialized at the bottom. "We're ready!" he called down.   
  
"Whatever." Inuyasha handed the bag back to Kagome and lifted her up onto his back.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. Ice Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO  
  
*  
  
"Do you like travelling with me?" Kagome asked.  
  
Inuyasha didn't seem to hear her. He jumped off a boulder and walked quickly down the road, around the mossy fallen trees. His long white hair was blown to the side by a gust of wind; with his preoccupied expression, he looked almost like his brother for a moment.  
  
"Inuyasha?" Kagome called.  
  
"What?" Inuyasha said, stopping.  
  
"Do you like travelling with me?" Kagome repeated. "I mean, even if the others weren't here." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, at the figures far behind them.  
  
Inuyasha's yellow eyes narrowed. "Zactly what are you asking? Of course I like travelling with you. If I didn't, I wouldn't bother, would I?" He turned and began walking again.  
  
Kagome smiled slightly. At least he didn't say I was just a shard detector, she thought, shifting her backpack on her shoulders. She sometimes wondered if Inuyasha really did like being around her, usually when he was being unusually crabby. It wasn't really in his nature to be kindly and open, but at times he was outright impossible to live with. Sango had once asked how Kagome could put up with it.  
  
But sometimes he had moments -- sometimes only for a few minutes -- where he opened up and let her see a little of what was underneath all the spines and prickles. Glimpses of a frightened child whom no one wanted, of a lonely young boy who had fallen for a venerated priestess and been amazed that she might want him too, and of the Inuyasha of the present, who was only just working himself up to trust others again. He was more than slightly messed up. If he'd been born in Kagome's time, he would have spent half his life on a shrink's couch -- at least a year on his Kikyo hangups alone.  
  
They had been travelling for a few days, and Inuyasha seemed reluctant to go any faster than they had been. "It's probably just a stupid rumor. I mean, if it were an actual demon, then somebody would've seen it."  
  
"Well, it can't hurt to check on it," Kagome had argued.  
  
"Hmph."  
  
"Come on. You used to go off half-cocked at the slightest HINT of a Shikon shard, and now you're fussing because you don't think it sounds plausible? In my first week here, I was attacked by you, a flesh-eating crow, a guy who turns into a giant dog, and a woman who was actually a comb. What exactly counts as 'weird' in your book?"  
  
Inuyasha conceded that it wasn't the weirdest thing they had encountered. But he brooded as they slipped through the woods, and Kagome wondered what was bothering him.  
  
*  
  
"So that's it," Inuyasha said, folding his arms. "The Cursed Mountain. Looks pretty shallow to me."  
  
Kagome peered past him. The mountain really wasn't very high -- certainly not the highest she'd seen. It ran along shallow slopes and sharp spikes, then suddenly went directly up to a narrow point. That wasn't what was odd. The entire mountain was blanketed in snow, spread over the ground for a few miles around the mountain's base.  
  
A cold wind blew past them. Kagome shivered. But Inuyasha just narrowed his yellow eyes, "Can you sense any jewel shards?" he asked, not meeting her eyes.  
  
"No," Kagome said. She squinted at the mountain; it was shimmering too brightly, now that the sun was coming back out.   
  
"Of course, at this distance they might simply be too far off," Miroku said, leaning on his staff.  
  
"Feh," Inuyasha said, staring morosely at the mountain.  
  
"Are you all right, Inuyasha?" Sango asked, leaning over Kirara's fanged head. The demon cat watched her mistress unblinkingly, then tried to scratch off the bundles Kagome had tied to her back.  
  
"I just don't like this place," Inuyasha snapped. He knelt down. "Jump on, Kagome. We can get partway up the slope in a few hours."  
  
Kagome settled herself on his back, and hung on as he leaped down the steep hillside.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Ice Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE  
  
*  
  
"Are you done YET?" Inuyasha demanded for what seemed like the fiftieth time.  
  
Kagome shoved one of Shippo's tiny arms into the jacket sleeve. "I'm almost done, yes. Just calm down and wait a minute!" She continued wrestling the wriggling fox-demon into the coat, then zipped it up firmly to his chin. His bushy tail had somehow got stuffed inside.  
  
"Thank you for these, Kagome," Miroku said, winding a scarf around his neck. His long monk's robes covered most of him, but he had selected gloves and a scarf from the bag of winter-wear. Sango was wearing one of Kagome's spare jackets; Kagome herself had bundled up as much as she could. Inuyasha had refused everything. The sight of him standing barefoot in the snow was making Kagome feel cold all over.  
  
"How come you had this?" Shippo asked, surveying himself with satisfaction.  
  
"It was my little brother's," Kagome said. "When he was a baby."  
  
They travelled for the next hour or so. Kagome tried to keep up with Inuyasha, but the snow was growing deeper. Even though she was wearing boots, she kept slipping.  
  
"Do you need help, Kagome?" Sango called, as Kirara landed nearby.   
  
Before Kagome could answer, Inuyasha landed lightly beside her. "Come on, get on me," he said impatiently, bending over. "If ya don't, we'll never get there."  
  
"Okay." Kagome meekly climbed onto him.  
  
The half-demon jumped from one half-buried boulder to another, his bare feet skimming lightly through the snow. It really doesn't seem to bother him, Kagome thought. She had thought Inuyasha was just acting tough, but the cold didn't seem to bother him. Or if it did, he was hiding it better. The only sign that things weren't okay with him was the tenseness she felt...  
  
"Keep an eye out for jewel shards," he reminded her. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we go."  
  
"Roger," Kagome said, shading her eyes. "Keeping a lookout. Things feel a little weird, but no jewel auras just yet." As Inuyasha leaped up a rock face, Kagome waved at Miroku, Shippo and Sango, still ridin Kirara a little ways above them. Shippo waved back, and almost fell off.  
  
As the group made its way along a plateau, Kagome suddenly called out, "Wait a minute! I saw -- "  
  
"A jewel shard?" Inuyasha asked, skidding to a stop.  
  
"Just hold on... no... I could have sworn I saw one," Kagome said, frowning.  
  
"You could have... you mean there wasn't one?" Inuyasha asked, peeved.  
  
"I thought there was." Kagome glanced around. "It was really faint, though. If there was one there, it was a really small piece."  
  
"But that doesn't MATTER, because you said it wasn't there," Inuyasha said testily.  
  
Kagome didn't answer. She rested her chin on his shoulder, and wondered if she had made a mistake. After all, she hadn't made any before. And it really HAD looked like a jewel shard...  
  
"I'll check it out," Inuyasha said, jumping higher.  
  
More cold wind blew down the mountainside, sending fresh snow dancing down the slope. Kagome blinked as the raw, freezing wind blew into her eyes, and hid her face in Inuyasha's fire-rat kimono. He only ran faster, with Kirara racing above the snow just behind him.  
  
Suddenly he stopped. "Kagome," he said in a low voice, "can you see any jewel shards?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"Don't you feel it?"  
  
"Feel what?"  
  
"The wind. It's picking up." Inuyasha's white hair swirled in Kagome's face, as if to emphasize his point. "It's getting dark -- the sun's setting. We shouldn't have come this far..."  
  
A low, moaning howl rang out over the mountain, as if the clouds were in pain. Kagome felt tiny cold spots on the back of her neck, and snow began to swirl up around them like smoke. Inuyasha growled softly and began running up the slope.   
  
Then he stumbled as a frigid wind slashed across his face. Kagome tumbled off his back and down the spiky ridge.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. Ice Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
*  
  
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, digging his claws through the snow, into the rock face. He stopped falling, then took a flying leap down toward the human girl.  
  
Kagome tumbled down the slope, leaving a long scrape in the snow as she tried to grab something -- anything -- to keep herself from falling further. But snow was covering everything; all the rocks and vines were hidden. "Inuyasha!" she cried, seeing a blur of white and red spinning over her. Pebbles scraped her hands as she slid off the snow -- and over a ledge.  
  
Her shriek was cut short as a hand shot out and caught her.   
  
Inuyasha's claws dug into the flesh of her wrist. "Kagome," he said breathlessly. "Just hang on to me."  
  
"I'm trying," Kagome whispered.   
  
Inuyasha was breathing hard. Below Kagome was a sheer drop, swirling with snow and mist. But jagged dark shapes littered the ground. If she fell, she'd be smashed to bits. He tightened his grip on her arm -- and slid forward slightly.  
  
"Inuyasha," Kagome said loudly, "let go."  
  
"What? No way!"  
  
"I'm pulling you over the edge! You gotta let me go, or else you'll fall too!" Blood began to trickle down Kagome's arm. She could see Inuyasha's other hand clutching at a knob of rock, but he was shaking with the effort of keeping them both up there, off-balance. If he slid... even a little...  
  
"I won't let you fall, Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted as Kagome's hand began twitching in his. "I won't let go!" He could feel his claws scraping through her skin, but he couldn't loosen his grip. If he did, she would fall. He looked past her at the jagged rocks, and sweat broke out on his face.  
  
I won't let you fall, he thought. A flash of memory crossed his mind -- the day Kikyo had been resurrected, she had fallen from a cliffside. From his own hand. The memory faded, and he found himself looking at Kagome instead, with her dark hair blown over her frightened face. A drop of blood from her clawed wrist had fallen to her cheek, like a tear. "Inuyasha," she whispered.  
  
Inuyasha barely dared to breathe. If she dragged him off, he'd try to get between her and the ground...  
  
The edge of the cliff crumbled, spraying Kagome with pebbles. She flinched and turned her face away. Inuyasha lurched forward, straining back. His other hand was barely touching the rock.  
  
Suddenly arms closed around Kagome's stomach and chest. "We've got you," Sango said calmly. "Inuyasha, let go now!"  
  
Inuyasha, his eyes half-closed, didn't seem to hear her.   
  
"Inuyasha," Miroku said from somewhere behind Kagome's waist. "Release Kagome so we can get her up to the top of the cliff."  
  
Now Inuyasha seemed to snap out of it. He reluctantly let go of Kagome's arm, with blood on his claws. Kirara growled softly as she raced up over Inuyasha and landed on the cliff.   
  
As Kagome slid off the demon cat's back, she clutched at her wrist. Inuyasha was backing away from the edge, breathing hard. "Are you okay, Kagome?" he asked in a low voice.  
  
"I'm fine," Kagome said. She winced.   
  
"Let me see your arm," Sango slid off with the first aid kit.   
  
As the demon-slayer bandaged her arm, Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He was still hunched over near the cliff's edge, with a strange faraway look in his eyes.  
  
I let her fall, he thought, looking at his bloody claws. She could have died because I let her fall from my back.   
  
He'd only dropped Kagome once or twice -- usually either deliberately, or because of an attacking demon. He had never just DROPPED her. She could have been smashed to bits in a heartbeat, and it would have been his doing. And in trying to save her, he had ripped up her wrist.   
  
Inuyasha took a deep breath and clenched his fist.  
  
"Are you okay?" Kagome asked, walking over on her knees.  
  
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"   
  
"I don't know about that. You're white as a sheet." Kagome held out her bandaged hand. "Look, I'm fine. But... you should've let me go. I was pulling you over."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha burst out. "Weren't you SCARED?"  
  
"Of course, I was! But I didn't want you to fall too!"  
  
"Didja think I wanted to just DROP you?" Inuyasha avoided her eyes. "We should get movin'." He stood up.  
  
"Don't you want me to come with you?" Kagome asked, dismayed.  
  
"It might not be such a good idea," Inuyasha said.  
  
"Come on," Kagome said, touching his shoulder. "I'll hang on tighter this time."  
  
Inuyasha reluctantly bent over, and let her climb onto his back.   
  
The winds blew harder as the sky darkened, spraying the group with snow. Inuyasha squinted as flakes flew into his eyes. I knew this was a bad idea, he thought, holding Kagome's knees tightly against his sides. She had buried her face in his long white hair.  
  
Behind him, Miroku squinted through the swirling snow. He could barely see, but a dark blur and a red blur were moving slowly in the distance, growing fainter and fainter.   
  
"Kirara can't keep going in this weather!" Sango shouted above the howl of the wind. Kirara was stumbling in the snow, with her red eyes almost shut. "We have to find shelter."  
  
"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted. "Inuyasha! INUYASHA!"  
  
His voice was swallowed by the wind. The blurred figures vanished into the swirl of the blizzard, swallowed up by the snow. When Kirara had stumbled to where they had stood, they were gone.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Ice Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
*  
  
"Inuyasha," Kagome mumbled, burying her face in his hair. She felt like she was drowning, with cold air and whirling snow blinding her, filling her nose and mouth when she spoke, dulling every sound except the roar of the wind.  
  
Inuyasha was holding her tighter, his claws digging into her legs. Not as badly as her wrist, but it was making her uncomfortable. At least the discomfort kept her awake -- she was starting to feel a little sleepy.   
  
I'm so COLD, Kagome thought, squeezing her eyes shut. The air seared her throat and nose, and any exposed skin. She glanced down at Inuyasha's snow-covered legs; he was still walking barefoot. She couldn't understand how he could stand it. I hope he doesn't get frostbite, she thought.  
  
Inuyasha was closing his eyes against the wind. It didn't make any difference whether he could see or not; when he looked ahead, he just saw a swirling blur of black and gray.   
  
His feet were freezing and wet, but that wasn't his biggest problem. Earlier he had been leaping lightly with Kagome on his back, but the snow was up past his knees. He had to slog along as slowly as a human, creeping up the slope like an insect. He couldn't run without his feet and knees free. If he tried to jump in this wind, without something solid to land on, he'd be sure to go tumbling down with Kagome again.  
  
Kagome... she felt as heavy and stiff as a dead thing, but he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. Even though she was wearing six or seven times her normal amount of clothes, Inuyasha knew that she was starting to slip away. And when she fell asleep, she would never wake up.  
  
He jostled her and dug into her legs with his claws.  
  
"Hmm?" Kagome mumbled. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Don't you doze off on me!" Inuyasha snapped. "I got enough problems right now."  
  
Kagome raised her head. "Where are Miroku and Sango and Shippo?" she asked.  
  
"Don't know!" Inuyasha shouted over a particularly loud gust of wind. Fine flakes of snow blew over his face, making him snort and shake his head. "I think -- we lost 'em awhile back."  
  
"LOST THEM?"  
  
"Don't yell in my ear! We can't find 'em in this storm! We'll have to take shelter and wait for morning!" Inuyasha knew he sounded angry, but he had to shout anyway.   
  
Kagome clung tightly to his neck as he took another plodding step through the snow. "Shelter where?"  
  
"I dunno!" Inuyasha took another laborious step. His half-frozen ears pricked up slightly. The hollow roaring of the wind was enough to deafen him, but he heard a strange whistle from ahead. He laid back his ears and forged ahead with new strength.  
  
"Do ya see something?" Kagome mumbled into his ear. Inuyasha was warm -- too warm. He felt like his skin was on fire where she touched him. She winced and clutched at his fire-rat kimono.  
  
"No, I hear it," Inuyasha said, opening his eyes. "I hear a cave."  
  
"Hear a cave?"  
  
"I hear wind whistling over the entrance. It isn't far off." He poked her in the knee with one of his claws. "Stay awake a little longer, Kagome."  
  
"I'm trying," she mumbled.  
  
Once again, Inuyasha cursed the rumors that had drawn them here, in a place where he was no better than a human.   
  
Slowly a black shape appeared in front of him, a pitch-black spot in the middle of all the gray, with the top at about his waist level. Inuyasha managed to slide the groggy Kagome into his arms and crept into the cave.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	7. Ice Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX  
  
*  
  
Kagome shook her head as she landed on the ground. But the ground was cold, hard -- not snow. Dirt. She groaned and slowly rolled over, coughing softly. The wind was still blowing hard -- but somehow it wasn't actually blowing on her.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she murmured.  
  
A dark form crept toward the mouth of the cave, which was half-blocked by a wall of snow. Kagome fumbled in the dark for her flashlight, switched it on, and pointed it at the mouth of the cave. Inuyasha was huddled by the entrance, piling rocks and snow in a crude wall over the opening. His hair was blown over his face, and the shadows cast by the flashlight made him look cold and sinister, almost like his brother Sesshoumaru. The illusion was broken when he sneezed.  
  
He paused, with a rock clutched in his fist. "You feelin' okay?" he asked gruffly.  
  
Kagome prodded her own leg. She might as well have been touching a piece of meat; she couldn't feel anything, and it didn't move when she tried to stand up. Suddenly a feeling like a white-hot needle jabbed through her ankle, making her foot twist and cramp inside her boot. "Ow!"  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"My foot's waking up. Oww..." Kagome wriggled her toes. It felt like the joints had frosted over, and were only now starting to thaw. She slipped her hands into her thick pants and started rubbing her legs. "Where are we?"  
  
"Dunno. It looks like a den of some kind. Probably some demon lived here until the mountain frosted over, and this is all that's left. There are some bone bits on the floor." Inuyasha had started piling snow and rocks over the entrance again.   
  
When Kagome was sure that all her body parts were still in working order, she painfully got to her knees and crept toward him. She couldn't stand up; even if her legs weren't twinging and cramping, the cave was only the size of a roomy car. "What are you doing?" she asked.  
  
"Tryin' to make sure the wind can't blow in here," Inuyasha said grimly. He rubbed his hands together for a moment before setting the last rock in place. "Couldja aim that thing away from my eyes?"  
  
"Sorry." Kagome set the flashlight down and crept painfully back to her backpack. "I think I have a little firewood in -- I forgot my matches!"  
  
"Do we even need a fire?"  
  
"Well, I can't boil you ramen without one."  
  
She felt Inuyasha's cold fingers close over her wrist. "You got firewood? Okay, just hold it up here." In the dim light, he held a rock close to the small log in her hands, his golden eyes glowing faintly.  
  
Kagome couldn't imagine what he was planning to do. How could Inuyasha get fire out of a rock?  
  
She was answered when he raked his claws over the rock, with an earsplitting nails-on-the-chalkboard shriek that set her teeth on edge. Kagome almost dropped the log, but somehow managed to keep a grip on it. Sparks flew out, and one of them caught on the wood.  
  
Inuyasha cupped his hands around the spark, and after a moment of fading in and out, it blossomed into a tiny flame. Kagome put the log down carefully, feeling dizzy. Her ears were still ringing.  
  
"My father showed me how to do that when I was little," Inuyasha said, flexing his hand.  
  
"Well, at least we won't freeze now," Kagome said, rubbing her ears. "Even if I am seeing double now."  
  
"Hey, it's worse for me." Inuyasha huddled over the small fire, his silver hair falling over his face. "I can hear it more than you can." He watched in silence as Kagome managed, after a struggle with the sputtering campfire, to boil enough water for an instant ramen package. They shared it in silence, listening to the howl of the wind outside. Even though it wasn't really hot, the food warmed them a little.  
  
"You think the others will be all right?" Kagome asked finally.  
  
"If they aren't," Inuyasha said darkly, swallowing the last noodles, "then we can't do nothin' about it. I'm practically blind and deaf out there, and you almost froze on top of me. Until the blizzard passes, we'll have to stay here and assume Miroku and Sango are smart enough to find their own shelter." He crushed the ramen cup in his fist, and slowly ground it to small pieces.  
  
Kagome unrolled her sleeping bag and unzipped the top. I'm so glad I got the extra-large, she thought. For once, listening to the sales clerk really had come in handy, even if she hadn't known that Kagome would be sleeping in a cave during a blizzard. There weren't many caves in Tokyo, and people tended to stay home during blizzards.  
  
She slipped inside and flipped the top of the bag open. "Inuyasha?"  
  
Inuyasha had been staring out at the whirling snow. "What?"  
  
"Hop in for the night."  
  
That got his attention. "Y-you want me to get in there?" he said, looking suddenly nervous.  
  
"Of course I do. The best way to conserve body heat in an emergency is to huddle together in an insulated space, like this sleeping bag. So stop blushing and get in here with me."  
  
"I'm not blushing. It's the wind," Inuyasha said. Still looking vaguely nervous at the prospect of sleeping beside her, he stepped down and slid in beside Kagome. She pulled the bag shut and zipped it closed. As he started to stretch onto her half of the bag, she prodded him. "Hey, be careful. We just need to keep warm until morning," she said. "So let's try to stay close, okay?"  
  
For a moment, the two stared at one another, and Kagome could feel herself blushing as well. She'd never gotten this close to Inuyasha. Well, not in a sleeping bag, that was. He wasn't like Miroku, with a one-track mind, but she could guess what some of his thoughts were about.  
  
He was staring at her in an eerie, intent way, as he did when he thought she wasn't looking. Just when Kagome was about to say something to break the awkward silence, Inuyasha suddenly turned his back to her and curled up.  
  
I suppose that could have been worse, Kagome thought. I just hope the others are doing okay right now...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	8. Ice Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
*  
  
Many of Miroku's idle fantasies and pleasantest dreams went this way. Stranded in the wilderness with Sango, with a raging blizzard that cut them off from civilization. In a secluded place, clinging close together for warmth -- and perhaps a few other things. Rather cliched, Miroku had thought, but then, they were HIS fantasies.  
  
This wasn't quite the same. In his dreams, they were in a warm little hut, not a crevice in a cliff, covered of ice. Likewise, in his dreams, he wasn't encumbered by a shivering fox-demon inside his clothes, or a giant demon-cat behind Sango. And Sango was usually a little more...  
  
"Keep your hands where I can see them," Sango said, shivering. Miroku quickly moved his hands up to her arms and shoulders, and began rubbing her to keep her warm.  
  
Outside, the wind was whirling snow into the narrow crevice, but it didn't quite reach the huddled four. Shippo stuck his rumpled red head out of Miroku's heavy robe. His fangs were chattering. "Where's Inuyasha?" he asked.  
  
"I've told you before," Miroku said. He pulled his outer cloak over Sango's shoulders; to his surprise, she drew closer and let him cover her. Kirara growled softly and flicked her long tails over her mistress. "Inuyasha vanished into the snowstorm. We tried to follow, but we had no way of seeing where he went."  
  
Shippo sneezed and dove back into Miroku's clothes. The moving lump finally settled on his chest. "I wanna go home," the lump announced. "I want Kagome..."  
  
A frigid gust of wind washed over the group. Kirara growled and bristled, as if the storm were an affront. "I want to go home too," Miroku said in a low voice.  
  
"What do you think has happened to Kagome and Inuyasha?" Sango asked.  
  
Miroku sighed. "I'm not sure."  
  
Sango shuddered again, rested her cheek on Miroku's shoulder. "Of all the people in the world to be stranded with, it had to be you."  
  
"Would you prefer to have been stranded with Inuyasha?"  
  
"At least he doesn't try to TOUCH me!" A slap rang out through the howling wind.  
  
*  
  
"Your socks are tickling my feet."  
  
"Too bad, because I'm not taking them off." Kagome shifted in the sleeping bag, trying to reach her inflatable pillow. "Your feet are like ice. Which isn't surprising, since you've been walking barefoot in the snow."  
  
"Feh!" Inuyasha twisted around to look at her.  
  
"If we had covers, I'd take them from you," Kagome said, tugging at his sleeve. "You're way over on my side!"  
  
Inuyasha reluctantly shifted. "You sure this is a good idea?" he said gruffly. "Doesn't seem to be working too well."  
  
When Kagome didn't answer, he turned to look at her. Her face was screwed up, with tears in her eyes. I didn't think she'd be this upset, he thought, alarmed. He touched her shoulder. "Kagome..."  
  
"It's not your fault," Kagome mumbled. "It's my feet. They're still numb."  
  
Inuyasha stared at her for a moment. Then Kagome yelped as he began burrowing into the sleeping bag, finally settling at the very foot of it. "Inuyasha!" she said loudly. "What are you-"  
  
She stopped. She could feel fingers peeling off her socks and starting to rub her feet from the ankles down. She winced as the feeling started to come back. "I think I'm okay now, Inuyasha. You can come out."  
  
After a lot of wriggling, Inuyasha came back out.   
  
"Thanks," Kagome said softly.  
  
"Hmph."  
  
"Inuyasha?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Are your ears cold?"  
  
He didn't answer. Kagome hesitated, then carefully enclosed his ears in her fists. "These are pretty cold," she said, rubbing them. "How does that feel?"  
  
"Mmph." Inuyasha closed his eyes.  
  
As the minutes passed, Kagome began rubbing and blowing on Inuyasha's hands. It's the least I can do, she thought. Not only was he wearing a lot less in the snow, but he was carrying me too, keeping me warm. Maybe I should go a little easier on him.  
  
She was starting to feel drowsy again, but wasn't sure if it was the cold or the fact that it was night. She certainly hoped it was the latter. The bone-aching chill was only held off by the sputtering little fire, and the warmth of Inuyasha's body. She yawned and drew a little closer to him; he responded by nuzzling up against her elbow. Outside, she could hear the patter of sleet.  
  
An ice storm. Terrific, Kagome thought, gently pulling Inuyasha's hands between hers. He was starting to doze off, now that his ears and hands were warmed up. He looked so peaceful when he was sleepy, all curled up like a puppy...  
  
Suddenly Kagome sat up.  
  
"Huh?" Inuyasha said, blinking. "Whazzamatter?"  
  
"I thought I saw a Shikon shard outside," Kagome said breathlessly. "I saw a glow -- it was in the sky."  
  
"Where?"  
  
Kagome hesitated. "I'm not sure. It was sort of all over the sky..."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	9. Ice Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
*  
  
"Can you see anything?" Miroku shouted into Sango's hair. Most of it had blown into his eyes.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Shippo, can you smell Inuyasha and Kagome anywhere nearby?" Miroku pulled the tiny fox out of his robes and held him up.  
  
Shippo sniffed the air. "I don't smell them. You don't think they're lost, do you?"  
  
"They may be," Miroku said grimly. Though Inuyasha had lived alone, homeless, for most of his life, he had never actually talked about what he had gotten through. The monk wasn't sure whether he would be all right in a blizzard.   
  
"I can try taking Kirara out when the wind dies down," Sango said, squinting out of the crevice. The demon-cat had grown to the size of a tiger, and was almost lying on top of the others. Miroku just hoped his numb feet weren't getting frostbitten.  
  
Shippo crept to the edge of the crevice and looked out into the storm.  
  
*  
  
"What?" Inuyasha sat up, blinking. "You sure you weren't dreamin'?"   
  
"I'm sure." Kagome crawled out of the sleeping bag, shivering. The glow had faded from the clouds outside, but she could see traces of it lingering over the snow. "Now it's almost gone... I can't go out there, not until the wind stops."  
  
But the thought of it nagged at her, long after Inuyasha had convinced her to get back into the sleeping bag. She kept her eyes on the small airhole, watching for another telltale glow.   
  
I gotta find out what that was, she thought, slipping away. I couldn't have just imagined it...  
  
*  
  
Inuyasha lay on his back, listening to the wind howl. Waiting for sunrise was something he'd done since he was a small child, and it never was easy. It always took forever. He had thought up dozens of ways to pass the hours until morning, including frightening squirrels and thinking of ways to get back at his brother. But they didn't help much. He scratched his chest absently.  
  
Beside him, Kagome was shivering in her sleep. Inuyasha shifted to watch her face.   
  
It was eerie how much she looked like Kikyo when she slept.  
  
He rolled over and rested his chin on his fists. Her face was still, empty, distant when she slept.   
  
Kagome had told him once that she and Kikyo shared a soul, but nothing else. If he hadn't known better, Inuyasha would have suspected that they didn't share that much. Kikyo was cool, distant, formal and untouchable. Kagome was more like him -- emotions close to the surface.   
  
Inuyasha brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Her hand was resting by her face. The bandage was still tightly wrapped around her wrist, and a faint pink stain was showing through the gauze.  
  
The sight made Inuyasha grimace. He raised his hand and stared at his claws. Faint streaks of brown. He remembered her face as she dangled over the edge, with his claws digging into her flesh. Kikyo had fallen from his hand as well. The major difference was that she had tried to drag him down with her, calling that she wanted him dead. Kagome had tried to make him let go.   
  
Suddenly a hand was clutching his hair. "Stop watching me," Kagome said, not opening her eyes. "It creeps me out."  
  
"Feh," Inuyasha said, pulling away. "Like I was gonna watch you sleep."  
  
"Then what were you doing?"  
  
"Thinking."  
  
Kagome sighed. "Whatever you say." Her grip on his hair loosened. "Just don't stare at me or I'll slap you again."  
  
Inuyasha turned away and stared at the wall of the cave, ignoring Kagome. Then he looked over his shoulder. She was sleeping again. And shivering.  
  
The half-demon watched her for a time, his eyes glowing faintly in the firelight. She looked cold, even if most of the wind was kept outside the cave. And she had said that body heat was the best way to keep warm in a blizzard. He didn't know if that was so, but it seemed like an okay idea.  
  
He crept closer in the sleeping bag. I'm not doing this because I want to, he thought fiercely. I'm doing it because we don't wanna freeze.  
  
He untucked his kimono and pulled the front of it around Kagome. She stopped shivering as he pulled her closer. "There," he mumbled. "At least we won't freeze while we're asleep. He yawned and rested his cheek on the top of her head. He'd wait out the blizzard, until morning came...  
  
Outside, the blizzard raged on.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	10. Ice Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE  
  
*  
  
When Kagome opened her eyes, at first she thought she was still in a dream. She was warm for the first time in what seemed like weeks, with her body resting against something solid and silky. Something warm, with a heartbeat.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she murmured.   
  
"Yeah?" he said from somewhere above her ear.  
  
Kagome tried to turn over, and found that she couldn't. It felt like his kimono had been tightly wrapped around them both and knotted behind her back. Oh well, she thought drowsily, resting her cheek on his chest. She was too sleepy to get too embarrassed by this. Besides, he smelled nice -- kind of like a boy, but there was a hint of fur and earth there -- with his long hair falling over her face -- and he was warm... really warm...  
  
"Inuyasha?" she said softly.  
  
"I said what?"  
  
"Why did you get all weird when we decided to come here?" Kagome closed her eyes and snuggled a little closer. She felt him tremble a little, then lie completely still. "You don't usually get like that. Why is it?"  
  
"I hate snow," Inuyasha said in a low voice. "If it's just on the ground, that's fine with me. But I hate it when it blows around." He paused, stroking her shoulders meditatively. "I used to have to spend all my time out in the forests. Including when it snowed. So when I'm in a blizzard, I remember... what it felt like then. When I was alone."  
  
"You're not alone," Kagome said drowsily.  
  
"I know," Inuyasha said, almost too quietly to be heard. He was starting to feel tired as well; Kagome was clearly on the borderline already. He closed his eyes, starting to drift off, but started when he heard her mumble, "Inuyasha... you're really warm."  
  
He blushed a little, glad that he had decided to get closer. This wasn't like what Miroku would do in his place... even if he did think a little. "Kagome..." he said hesitantly, but Kagome was already asleep again. He rested his hand on her head, and wondered why it felt so natural to be this way.   
  
*  
  
When Kagome woke up, the cave was flooded with sunlight. She was still wrapped in Inuyasha's red kimono -- only he wasn't in it. She sat up slowly, kicking off the sleeping bag. Cold! she thought as she pulled on her socks. There was snow all over the floor.   
  
Inuyasha was at the buried entrance of the cave, digging like a dog. "Awake already?" he grunted, scraping the rocks out of his way. "I was gonna let you sleep for a while longer."  
  
Kagome shielded her eyes. "Yeah. Any sign of Miroku and the others?"  
  
"Not yet." Inuyasha sniffed the air outside. "Nothing. If they're around, then they're hidden too deep for me to smell them. Or else the snow is getting in the way."  
  
"But you can smell them once we get going, right?"  
  
"I can't promise that."  
  
Kagome handed him his kimono; he didn't look at her when he took it back. He's embarrassed about what he did last night, Kagome thought. I wonder if I can get him past this idea that it's weak to be sweet like that. If she pressed him, he would probably insist that it was just for mutual self-preservation.  
  
"Let's go, Kagome," Inuyasha said, slipping the kimono back on. "We should find out about that Shikon aura you saw, then get out of here. I don't wanna be caught in another blizzard tonight."  
  
"No arguments here." Kagome stuffed her sleeping bag back on top of her backpack. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."  
  
As Inuyasha leapt from rock to rock, Kagome blinked. The sun on the snow was almost blinding her, but if she squinted she could make out... well, more rocks. As time went on, clouds rolled over the sun, and the cold winds began to pick up. They stung Kagome's face, but Inuyasha didn't seem bothered by them.  
  
"See any Shikon shards?" he asked, pausing on a pointed outcropping.  
  
"Nothing yet," Kagome said, looking around. "I'm starting to wonder if I just dreamed it."  
  
"Or if something really creepy is going on here," Inuyasha said ominously. "We'd better find Miroku and the others before they get into more trouble." Assuming they didn't freeze, he thought, jumping off the ledge.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	11. Ice Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN  
  
*  
  
Kagome clung to Inuyasha as he landed on an expanse of windswept black rock. He wouldn't ever admit it, but she could feel him tensing up. He was getting worried that they hadn't seen the others.  
  
"Miroku!" Inuyasha bellowed. "Sango! Shippo!"  
  
The wind whistled in reply.  
  
"Dammit," Inuyasha mumbled. He jumped off into the snow and began running at top speed; snow flew around him like a small blizzard. Kagome held on tighter and rested her face in Inuyasha's hair.  
  
Inuyasha had kept quiet as they sped over the expanse of snow. His feet were freezing, but that wasn't what had bothered him. All night, he had stayed by Kagome in her sleeping bag, trying not to let THOSE sorts of thoughts into his head. And his memories were a little vague, as if it had all been a dream, but he remembered what he had confessed to her.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said suddenly.  
  
Inuyasha slipped and almost fell. "What?!" he snapped when he had gotten his balance.  
  
"I saw that Shikon shard again -- it was at the top of the mountain." Kagome shaded her eyes. "It's gone now. But I did see it -- it wasn't just a daydream."  
  
She expected Inuyasha to turn and start running immediately. But he just looked up at the summit, with a strange look in his golden eyes. Then he turned his face to the jagged rocks and deep snowdrifts. "You think we should go after it right away? Or do you wanna keep looking for the others?"  
  
Kagome hesitated.  
  
"I dunno either," Inuyasha said in a low voice.   
  
Kagome looked back up at the summit. The thought of her friends freezing -- or already frozen -- in some snowdrift made her feel sick. But at the same time... how could they find them?  
  
"We might be able to see more from the summit," Inuyasha said suddenly. Without another word, he turned and began jumping from rock to rock, then leaped up a cliffside.   
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried. "What about the others?"  
  
"That was what I was TALKIN' about!" Inuyasha snapped. He landed on a narrow ledge, wobbled a little, and steadied himself. "If they're wandering around, then we might see them from up there. And if whoever has a Shikon shard... wait a minute. Could that have been Miroku you saw?"  
  
"No," Kagome said decisively. "There was only one shard. Plus, it was moving too fast to be Miroku. Even if he were riding Kirara."  
  
Inuyasha looked over his shoulder. Below Kagome was a sheer drop of black rock. The snow was a very long distance down. He gritted his teeth and held her legs tightly. "Hold on to me."  
  
"I am." Kagome grabbed a handful of his kimono. "Don't worry, I don't plan to fall off again. If you slip again, I won't let go."  
  
"I'm not gonna slip!" the half-demon said sharply. Inuyasha soared up another stretch of the cliff. "Well, whoever it is, if they have anything to do with this damned blizzard, then they're gonna answer for it." He coughed. "Keep an eye open for Miroku's shards, huh?"  
  
"I am."   
  
Kagome huddled down on Inuyasha's back, trying not to look down. But her stomach was twisting with worry. Worry for her friends, who had vanished in the snowstorm. And worry over what might be waiting for them at the summit. They had faced a lot of demons, some of them outright horrifying, to collect the jewel shards. But now they had a time limit: Inuyasha was blinded and deafened in blizzards, and she started to freeze the night before.  
  
I just hope we find whoever it is before nightfall, she thought.  
  
Inuyasha landed on the edge of the cliff. Kagome started to look over his shoulder, only to have his hair blown in her eyes.   
  
"Man..." Inuyasha muttered, letting her off his back.  
  
Kagome dusted herself off as she looked at the cave. It yawned in the middle of the mountainside, between two enormous crags. It made her think -- a cliched image -- of a hungry mouth. I can't go in there, she thought wildly.  
  
"You think that's where it went?" Inuyasha said in a low voice.   
  
"I-I don't know," Kagome said, frowning. "I don't feel any Shikon shards at all now... but..." She pressed a fist against her stomach. "It makes me feel sick."  
  
"Sick or not," Inuyasha said, crossing his arms. "We might have to sleep in there tonight... if we can't find Miroku and the others."  
  
"Yeah," Kagome said, staring into the darkness. "You're right. Let's go in. Maybe the others found their way inside..."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	12. Ice Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
*  
  
The first thing that Miroku felt when he woke was Sango cradled in his arms, fast asleep. The second was Kirara, in her larger form, draped over both of them like a weighted fur rug.  
  
He winced, prodding the demon-cat with his elbow. They had decided that the best way to deal with the cold -- after Sango vetoed Miroku's suggestions -- was that they stay close to Kirara. She was warmer and hardier, Sango pointed out, and had fur as well.  
  
"Kirara," Miroku grunted, trying to wriggle out. "Get small, would you?"  
  
She stared at him for a moment, then vanished in a whirl of flame. Then there was only a tiny cat sitting on his knee.   
  
Sango groaned and clutched at her head. "Ughhh... what happened?" she said.  
  
"It's morning." Miroku peered out of the crevasse. "And the blizzard seems to be gone."  
  
Shippo tumbled out of Miroku's robes, cross-eyed and with his tail frizzed out. "That was awful," he said, slapping his forehead. "Are Kagome and Inuyasha back yet?" He brushed snow from his clothes and red topknot, then bounced onto Miroku's shoulder.  
  
Miroku groaned and rolled his head from side to side. He could feel something cracking in his neck. "No, they haven't." He stood up slowly, wincing as more snow seeped into his sandals. "Sango, are you all right? Or should we rest a little longer?"  
  
"I'm fine," Sango said, leaning on her boomerang as she got up. Miroku put his arm tightly around her as they set out across the wide stretch of snow, with Shippo and the mewing Kirara on their shoulders.   
  
"Ow, it's bright," Shippo said, flinching. The snow below them sparkled and shone where the sunbeams struck it, filtered through the clouds.  
  
Miroku looked at the sky. "It's fortunate that the sun is clouded over. If it weren't, we might well have been blinded by now." His face grew grave as he looked down over the mountainside. It was covered in heavy drifts of snow, and jagged rocks poked through it like teeth.   
  
I hope they're all right, Miroku thought.  
  
"Wait a minute," Shippo said. He hopped off the monk's shoulder. "I forgot something in the cave. I'll be right back."  
  
"Don't take too long," Miroku said.  
  
Kirara ran after the little fox-demon, mewing loudly. But that made Miroku feel only slightly better. The feeling of wrongness and unnaturality hung heavily in the air, and it made Miroku wonder again what had happened to Kagome and Inuyasha...  
  
*  
  
"I can't see a thing." Kagome clutched at Inuyasha's shoulder. He put his arm tightly around her waist and half-dragged her along the winding tunnel. "Who made this thing anyway?"  
  
"I dunno," Inuyasha mumbled. "But I can't smell anything. It's all frozen, so it all smells like snow." A flash of light caught his golden eyes. "How cold are you?"  
  
"Not too much," Kagome lied. Actually, the cold wasn't what was bothering her. It was the dark, and the knowledge that something could be creeping around anywhere nearby. And the weird, sick feeling she got when they came into this cave in the first place.   
  
The tunnel wound deeper and deeper into the mountain; the air smelled musty and dead. Kagome kept stumbling on holes and jagged bits of rock. Inuyasha sniped once or twice about her clumsiness, but mostly he held her tightly, guiding her through the dark. Kagome kept close, privately thankful that he could see so well. Her stomach was doing the rumba, and it was making her dizzy...  
  
Suddenly a flash of light almost blinded her. Kagome covered her eyes until they adjusted enough for her to see. It was a little rounded, nestlike cave, with a large crack in the wall to let in a shaft of sunlight. Some snow had blown in a pile over the rocks.  
  
"We better stop here," Inuyasha said gruffly, releasing her. "See if there's any firewood here. I'll scout around to see if there's an easy way out. Just in case."   
  
He raced almost silently into one of the side-tunnels.  
  
Shivering, Kagome knelt down and began digging through the snow. "Bingo!" she murmured as her hand closed on something round and hard.   
  
But when she pulled it out of the snow, she saw something at the end of the log. It was a hand.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	13. Ice Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
*  
  
The cold air stung Inuyasha's eyes and nose. He wiped them irritably on his sleeve as he slipped into one of the icy passages. He had never had so much trouble in the cold before -- even when he was little. Maybe it was because of the wind, he thought. It cut through his clothes like a knife. Good thing Kagome isn't wearing that little skirt, he thought.  
  
He paused, listening. Wind was blowing somewhere nearby. We can't be that far from the surface, he thought. They would need to go deeper. Whatever this thing was, he was willing to bet it nested far down in the mountain. His claws cracked in anticipation.  
  
Suddenly he stiffened. Someone had screamed -- Kagome!  
  
"KAGOME!" he shouted, turning and racing through the darkness. A cold blast of air  
  
Stupid, stupid, stupid! he berated himself. I shouldn't have left her alone!   
  
A blast of cold light made him flinch. Kagome was sitting where he had left her, huddled over and hugging herself. She was making odd whimpering noises, like a lost pup.  
  
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, leaping beside her. "What happened? Are you all right?" He grabbed the Tetsusaiga and started to draw it.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome threw herself against his chest and hugged him. "The... the... I found a HAND in that snowdrift."  
  
Inuyasha blinked. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or embarrassed.... or both. "Feh," he snorted. "Is that all?" He crept over to the snowdrift, and grimaced. A frozen human arm was sticking out of it. Ignoring Kagome's distressed noises, he swept more snow out of the way and peered inside. He could see half of a stark white face, and a brown eye staring at him.  
  
"What is it?" Kagome asked, creeping over.  
  
"Some poor bastard who froze over in here," Inuyasha growled. He dug away more snow. "Must have been a merchant or something, who got caught in the blizzard and wandered in here for shelter."  
  
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Gotta see if he had any supplies on him." Inuyasha paused. "Then maybe we can give him a decent burial outside the mountain."  
  
Kagome reluctantly helped him dig the man out. It made her cringe to think that she had grabbed a frozen corpse, but Inuyasha was right -- the man should get a burial. Even if it was only snow.  
  
Suddenly Inuyasha stopped. "Don't touch him, Kagome."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Look there." Inuyasha pointed at the man's half-buried chest. Kagome's eyes widened.  
  
Through it was a narrow hole filled with snow, about as thick as three of Kagome's fingers, and perfectly round. "A windhole," Kagome whispered. "Someone blasted through his heart?"  
  
"That's not all." Inuyasha brushed away more snow from the man's neck. There was a weird pink stain around his head, and soon Kagome saw why. An icicle had pierced through his throat, and into the rock under him.   
  
"An icicle?" Kagome said breathlessly. "What a horrible way to die..."  
  
"And if that ice can pierce the rock underneath, it means this was no accident," Inuyasha growled. "Only a demon could do that. And a pretty dangerous one too -- maybe because of a jewel shard, if it's the one that you saw before." He stood up and brushed the snow off his clothes. "We'll have to deal with this guy later, Kagome. First we need to find the demon and get his shard."  
  
When Kagome stayed staring at the frozen man, Inuyasha tugged at her arm. "Come on, up and at 'em. No way am I leavin' you alone in a place like this."  
  
"Are you worried about me?"  
  
"Worried? Feh!" Inuyasha put his arm around her shoulders as he led her away.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	14. Ice Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
  
*  
  
"What's taking Shippo so long?" Miroku said. He blew on his fingers, then hastily stuffed his hands back into the gloves Kagome had lent him. He and Sango were crouched in the snow, watching the wind blow away the tiny tracks Shippo and Kirara had left.  
  
"I don't know," Sango said darkly.  
  
"You think something's happened?"  
  
"I don't know." Sango stood up and raised her boomerang. A chilly wind ruffled her long black hair. "But I'm feeling something inside that chasm. I think it may have Shippo and Kirara."  
  
Miroku picked up his staff. "Then let's go." And perhaps find Kagome and Inuyasha, he thought. Gripping the staff with half-numb fingers, he ran as fast as he could through the snow, with Sango stumbling at his side.  
  
The narrow chasm was as it had been when they left it, except that Shippo and Kirara's footprints led inside. Miroku grimaced as he poked at one. "At least they weren't snatched up by anyone else," he said grimly. "But whatever possessed them to go inside?"  
  
"I don't know," Sango said, starting into the crevasse. "But stay on your guard. There's something alive in there. I just know it."  
  
*  
  
"Inuyasha!"  
  
"I said NO!"  
  
"But they hurt!"  
  
"After seein' what happened to that guy, you think I'm gonna leave you alone in this place? Are you kidding?" Inuyasha gave Kagome's arm a sharp tug.   
  
The human girl responded by tugging back. "Inuyasha, my feet have shooting pains. I need to sit down for a little while." She dropped to the ground, with Inuyasha's hands still clutching her arm.   
  
"And what about that idiot with an icicle through his throat?" Inuyasha snapped. "You wanna end up like him?"  
  
"I'm not like him." Kagome pulled her quiver out of her backpack, and untied her bow from the back of her coat. "I have these. And you know as well as I do that I can use them!"  
  
Inuyasha stared at her, then reluctantly let go of her arm. "I guess I can't make you go if you're not willing," he said gruffly. "But don't you move from there unless somebody tries to take off your head."  
  
Kagome nodded once, and began rubbing her ankles vigorously.   
  
Inuyasha gritted his teeth as he slipped into the corridor, almost slipping on a patch of ice. He clutched at a stalagmite, half-pulling himself up the slick surfaces. Kagome could be more stubborn than he could ever try to be, when she put her mind to it. He wanted her to stay near him. The further he got from her in this god-forsaken place, the jumpier and edgier he felt.  
  
Suddenly he heard her call him. He stiffened. "Kagome?" he shouted.  
  
"Inuyasha!" It was faint but clear. "Inuyasha, help me!"  
  
He started back the way he had come, then skidded to a halt. The voice was coming from elsewhere -- had Kagome left that place? Dammit! He raced through the caves, half-blinded by light and dark, and slipping on patches of ice. Growling, he smashed his claws into the walls and braced himself, moving inch by inch...  
  
"Inuyasha!" The voice was getting louder.  
  
"I'm coming!" he shouted. He dug his feet into chinks in the rock and ran as fast as he could. His claws cracked in anticipation of a nasty fight -- anything that tried to hurt Kagome was dead meat, as far as he was concerned. With a cry he burst through a thin stone wall, and landed on a ledge. And what was under the ledge made him dizzy -- a huge, round black hole that stretched down, down, down. He couldn't see the bottom. Wind whistled ominously with the echoes of Kagome's cry. He sniffed the air -- nothing but snow, rock, more snow, ice...  
  
Wait a minute, he thought. That means...  
  
A blast of air threw him off balance, dragging him to the edge of the ledge. Grunting, Inuyasha dug in his sharpened claws into the rock. This was like Miroku's wind tunnel -- except much more powerful. Inuyasha's claws grated over the rock, leaving white lines. Then he slipped.  
  
Desperately, he made a grab for an outcropping as the wind dragged him down-- and the outcropping smashed against his head. The last thing he saw was the pit yawning under him.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	15. Ice Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
  
*  
  
Kagome sighed and huddled deeper into her jacket. Her butt was starting to go numb from the cold, damp rocks she was sitting on. But at least my feet aren't hurting as much, she thought. She fumbled at her belt for her flashlight, and shone the beam around the darkened tunnel. The light beam went on for a few yards, but was swallowed by the darkness.   
  
"Kagome!"   
  
She stiffened. She could hear Inuyasha's voice in the distance, echoing softly through the caves. She staggered to her feet. "Inuyasha?" she called. "Are you okay?"  
  
A cold silence followed.  
  
"Inuyasha?" Kagome called, starting forward. "Inuyasha, are you still there? Say something! Can you hear me?"  
  
She could hardly see ahead of herself, but she stumbled into the pit anyway. The cold air seared her throat and nose, and made her eyes water. Something in her recoiled at what was ahead. "There's something down there," she whispered, hesitating. "It's... it's warped. And it must have Inuyasha!"  
  
"Kagome!" His voice was growing louder and more urgent.  
  
"I'm coming!" Kagome gasped, slipping on the ice. "Inuyasha! Where are you?"  
  
"In here!" the voice called from a sloping tunnel. "Kagome, I need your help! Hurry! It's only a little further; I can already smell you."  
  
Kagome took another step... and moved back. "You need my help," she repeated in a low voice. "I don't think you've ever said that to me... even when it was true." It wasn't like Inuyasha to say he NEEDED anyone. Wanted them, asked for them, demanded them... but not NEEDED.  
  
A horrible suspicion started to form in Kagome's mind. That wasn't Inuyasha. Whatever was out there spoke with his voice, his inflections, even that note of impatience. But it wasn't him.  
  
"Inuyasha," she called in a high, wavering voice. "Are you still there?"  
  
"Yeah."   
  
That wasn't him, Kagome thought. Inuyasha would have said something sarcastic like "Of course I am!" or "Where am I supposed to go?" She cleared her throat. "Inuyasha, I think that... Inuyasha, what did we do last night? I can't remember."  
  
"We did what we do every night."  
  
Strike one, Kagome thought. Sleeping with Inuyasha in one sleeping bag was not something that had happened before. "And... you remember how cold we both got? You rubbed my hands when they got cold."  
  
"Yeah, I did."  
  
"And we... we spent half the night looking for Miroku and Sango until we had to use our sleeping bags. It was a good thing Shippo was with us then, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, he turned out to be useful after all." There was a hint of humor in the voice. "Kagome, are you still coming? I need some help down here... I think I've found out what caused those storms. You're not gonna believe it. But I need you over here right now."  
  
"I'm coming. I'll be down in a minute, okay?" Stamping her feet in what she hoped sounded like footsteps, Kagome took a deep breath. He was lying. IT was lying. His voice, but not the mind behind it; she had known him for months, long enough to know how he talked in a crisis. "And you told me how you were afraid of snow because your mother froze to death in the middle of a blizzard, and you had hated snow ever since. That was really sad, Inuyasha. When you told me that, I almost cried, and I rubbed your back..."  
  
A catch came into the voice. "Yeah. Why are you askin' me these things?"  
  
"Because you're lying!" Kagome burst out, her voice echoing eerily in the passage. The wind began to blow from behind her, and something shadowy stirred ahead in the darkness. "All three of those were lies, and Inuyasha would have known it in a minute!"  
  
Something roared in the distance -- it sounded like a tornado. Kagome's hair blew forward over her face, and her boots began slipping on the icy rocks. She clutched at a stalagmite, and clung to it with all her strength. The wind was blowing harder and harder, trying to drag her down that passageway.   
  
"Inuyasha!" she shouted above the howls of the wind. "Inuyasha, can you hear me? INUYASHA?"  
  
The wind faded away, leaving her shivering in the dark and silence.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	16. Ice Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Shippo!" Miroku shouted. "SHIPPO!"  
  
"Kirara!" Sango called. "Where are you? Shippo! Kirara!"  
  
She shivered suddenly. The wind was still seeping in from somewhere in the near darkness. They had followed Shippo and Kirara's footprints until the snow stopped, and were now stumbling blindly around the tunnels.   
  
Miroku put his arm around her shoulders. "I'd advise that we split up, except..."  
  
"Except we might not find one another again," Sango finished.  
  
"Right. And if night comes before we find the others, we might freeze otherwise," Miroku said. He paused as a faint sound came from one of the passages. "Sango, you have more extensive experience with demons than I have. I sense a faint demonic presence all around us, but so thin that I barely noticed it before. Have you any experience with demons such as these?"  
  
"No," Sango said, patting the stone wall beside her to keep her bearings. "Most of the demons I've slain were animals or insects. They're a little hard to not notice. Something this powerful would have required dozens of demon-slayers." She stared at him. "Or better, an exorcist."  
  
"It's not something I've done very often," Miroku said.  
  
"It isn't?"  
  
"Well, not because of a genuine problem," Miroku said with a small smile. "Unless you count room and board as being a problem."  
  
"Oh, be quiet." Sango shivered again. "I wish Inuyasha were here. He could sniff out Shippo and Kirara."  
  
"Well, in his absence, we'll just have to do our best," Miroku said. He boosted Sango onto a stone outcropping, and as he was climbing up himself, slipped and smacked his face into the ground.  
  
"Miroku!"  
  
"I'm fine," Miroku said, pressing a hand to his nose. A few rivulets of blood seeped between his fingers. "I don't think it's broken. Just a little battered."  
  
Sango unhooked her boomerang and unwound a small polishing cloth from the underside. She held it out to Miroku. The monk pressed it to his nose, mumbling, "Thanks."  
  
As Miroku mopped the blood from his nose, Sango crouched down beside him, and glanced around the dim passages and tunnels. "Miroku... am I imagining things, or have we been going in circles?"  
  
The only answer was a slight squeeze on her backside.  
  
*  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted again.   
  
Her voice echoed through the dark chasm. A cold wind blew her hair down past her face. She was creeping down a series of niches in the rock face, a sort of rough ladder. But they were slippery and hard to keep a toehold on. It would be child's play to Inuyasha, but Kagome could barely hang on.  
  
Kagome scrabbled for a dried flower Shippo had tucked in her pocket earlier. She let it drop, and watched it whirl in a spiral before vanishing into the darkness. I don't know much about wind, she thought, but that doesn't look normal.  
  
When the dark shape of an outcropping appeared in the gloom, Kagome slid onto it for a rest. Her fingers were frozen and sore; Kagome could barely move them. Shivering, she stuck her hands under her arms and waited for them to thaw.   
  
Then a faint glimmer caught her eye.  
  
It was a spot of blood on the outcropping, with two hairs in it. Silver ones.  
  
Forgetting about her fingers, Kagome carefully worked the hairs loose of the dried blood. "Inuyasha," she whispered. "He must have fallen and hit his head... INUYASHA!" she shouted down into the chasm. It was probably a bad idea to keep yelling, but if Inuyasha had gotten hurt, she would take that chance. He'd jumped down greater heights without so much as a bruise. But if he had hit his head, and blacked out...  
  
Grimacing, Kagome swung back onto the makeshift stone ladder, and began her descent again.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	17. Ice Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
  
*  
  
Wind. Cold. Dirt. And more snow...  
  
Inuyasha groaned, barely able to open his eyes. He could smell that he was someplace unfamiliar, but where... Vague memories began to form. He remembered being dragged off the precipice by a wind stronger than any other he'd encountered. Even Miroku and Kagura hadn't hit him that hard. The last thing he remembered was smashing his head into a rock, and then nothing...  
  
"Ow, my head," Inuyasha mumbled. Gingerly he touched the back of his head, only to wind as his claws brushed a wound. His thick white hair was matted with blood. "Damn it... how far did I fall?"  
  
He started to get up, then fell back on his stomach. He'd gotten dizzy the moment he tried to get up.  
  
Must have hit it pretty hard, he thought, digging his claws into the dirt. I hope Kagome's okay... I can't smell her from here. She'll probably go wanderin' off by herself if I don't come back for her soon. Dammit. If I hadn't smacked my head I could be up that in a minute.  
  
A cold wind blew through the dark cave, and Inuyasha felt his hackles rising. It was already frigid; an injured human would have never woken up in his place. He shivered, trying to work his way onto his hands and knees. There was something down here -- a dangerous, cold something -- that had tricked him with Kagome's voice. And Inuyasha hated being tricked.   
  
"Where are you?" he growled at the darkness. "Coward! Sitting in the mountains and waiting for people to freeze before you attack! Why don't you come out in the open and fight me?"  
  
The only answer was the wind whistling somewhere deeper in the caves.   
  
"Coward," Inuyasha growled again. His fingers were starting to ache. A human would probably be dozing off and freeze down here. He pricked his ears, listening. Nothing but more wind.  
  
"Dammit!" he whispered. "Nothing can be that quiet. It's here -- I can feel it. But I can't hear or smell a thing. What kind of demon is this?"  
  
He gingerly got to his knees, swaying slightly. "Kagome!" he shouted. "KAGOME!"  
  
Then he sat down heavily, rubbing his hands together. "Yeah, like she'll listen," he muttered. "If she can hear me, she'll probably just think it was the demon that sucked me down here."   
  
Another stab of pain went through his head. "Just so long as she's safe," he murmured.  
  
*  
  
Kagome's boot slipped on the rock outcropping. For a moment she thrashed, clutching at chinks in the cliffside, then caught herself and clung to it. She looked down, and wished she hadn't. The chasm was still a huge, yawning mouth that didn't seem to have a bottom.   
  
I wish I were like Inuyasha, she thought. I can't get a good foothold in this place! "At the very least, I wish I had some rope." She made a mental note to pack rope on her next expedition into the feudal era -- as if she weren't carrying half her belongings anyway.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she called over her shoulder. If she had to, she'd ask him questions that only Inuyasha could answer -- stuff like what had used a man's body to try to take the jewel from her, when she had first come to the Feudal Era. Or what she had done to Mistress Centipede. Something!  
  
Her numbed fingers slipped, and in her desperation Kagome clung to the cliffside with her knees and elbows. I never realized how much I depended on Inuyasha, she thought. He can leap tall buildings in a single bound, right? I mean, normally I wouldn't even try to climb down a cliffside inside a mountain with no rope. But if he's hurt, I have to help him.  
  
A dark thought flitted over her mind like a moth. Kagome brushed it away. I won't even think about that, she thought. He's too tough to get killed by just a fall.   
  
Another thought crossed her mind, one that frightened her more than the thought of the emptiness under her feet. "But it isn't just a fall," she murmured, resting her face against the cold stone. "Something down there pretended to be Inuyasha and tried to suck me down into this chasm. He's alone with it now, and he might be hurt. I don't know how I can help, but I have to do something."  
  
She poked around with her foot for another chink in the rock, then froze. Something was whirring and rumbling down in the depths of the mountain. Inuyasha's muffled voice came up past her, on a breeze.  
  
"Oh no," Kagome whispered.   
  
A blast of wind tore from above her, blinding and deafening her. Kagome flinched and pressed her face against the cliff, trying to keep her fingers wedged in the rock face -- until a searingly cold gust tore her loose and threw her down into the vortex.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	18. Ice Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Dammit!" Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head. It was still sore, and a bit of blood came away on his fingers. He looked up at the dark expanse above him, and tried to gauge how far it was. I could jump, he thought, but without seeing where I was going, and dizzy too... nah, I'll have to climb. Just hope I don't get woozy up there.  
  
Suddenly the air began to stir. Inuyasha could smell it welling from deep inside the mountain, pouring from somewhere dark and stinking. He grabbed hold of a rock and held it tightly. If that whirlpool started up again, he wouldn't allow himself to be drawn into it.  
  
The wind began to blow harder, whipping his hair over his face. Inuyasha braced himself against the rock. He could hear the winds swirling together over him, but they barely seemed to touch the ground where he was. He looked up, seeing a great gray vortex forming above him, sucking down streams of snow and ice, blowing them around...  
  
Then he heard a faint cry. "Inuyasha..."  
  
He caught his breath. "Kagome... KAGOME!" His voice was swallowed by the winds.  
  
Inuyasha could smell her now, and when he looked he saw a dark form caught in the vortex. Taking a deep breath, he leapt upward into the twister.  
  
It was like the blizzard all over again; Inuyasha was glad that he had been passed out when he fell. The icy wind felt like it was searing off his skin, and no matter how he tried, he could barely open his eyes. And it was a pretty weird feeling to be suspended only by the wind, spinning like a dried leaf.  
  
"Kagome!" he shouted above the roar of the wind.  
  
"Inuyasha..."   
  
Inuyasha forced his watering eyes to open. Kagome was falling through the vortex, thrown by the wind like a broken doll. She was almost unconscious, but awake enough to whisper his name. Inuyasha reached out his hand, straining to touch her. But they were both being tossed around in the vortex, spinning faster and faster, and he couldn't reach her...  
  
"Dammit!" Inuyasha said, frustrated.   
  
Then to his surprise, Kagome's hand flapped up toward his, but it could have just been lifted by the wind. He caught her wrist and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She was limp and freezing, but still alive.  
  
The half-demon gritted his teeth. He could barely see or hear, but he could smell the wet rocks coming closer to him. With a burst of furious effort, he threw himself against the rocks and propelled himself through the center of the storm. Inuyasha kept one arm around the insensate Kagome, grabbed the opposite wall, and bounced down through the whirlwind.  
  
His vision blurred as the maelstrom started to clear, and the floor of this damned cave spun toward him. He looked down at Kagome for a second. I can't let her fall, he thought, then flipped himself face-up, with her falling above him, their hands still tightly linked.  
  
Inuyasha slammed into the ground -- and Kagome fell on top of him.  
  
The impact knocked the breath out of Inuyasha, and for a moment he was sure that his ribs had been broken. But after a few painful breaths, he was able to relax slightly. Though his eyes were still blurred, he could hear the winds abating above him.  
  
Kagome groaned and raised her head. "Inu... yasha..." she whispered. "What happened? Did I hurt you?"  
  
"'S no big deal," Inuyasha grunted. "Mind gettin' off of me?"  
  
Kagome scrambled off, and watched as Inuyasha gingerly sat up. Then she touched the back of his head. "Your head's bleeding. Inuyasha, are you okay? When I found some of your blood and hair on a rock, I was... worried about you." She pressed her hand his shoulder.  
  
Inuyasha bowed his head over his knees. "Thanks, Kagome..." he said quietly. "Let's find a way out of this hellhole."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	19. Ice Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
  
*  
  
"Shippo!" Miroku shouted. "Shippo, can you hear me?"  
  
"Kirara!" Sango called. "Kirara!"  
  
Miroku coughed, wishing that he had brought along a water bottle. Not that it matters, he thought darkly. It was cold enough that any water would probably freeze.  
  
"Shh!" Sango said suddenly. "Don't make a sound."  
  
Miroku swallowed another cough, listening as best he could. Above the whistling of the wind, he could hear Shippo's voice. "Miroku? Sango?" the faint voice echoed. "Is that you?"  
  
"Shippo!" Miroku shouted. "Shippo, don't move. We're coming to find you. Is Kirara there."  
  
"Yep," Shippo replied.  
  
Miroku slipped his arm through Sango's. He felt her stiffen, but when he failed to grab her backside, she relaxed and walked alongside him through the corridor. "Shippo!" Miroku called. "Keep calling out so we can find you."  
  
"Meeeeeeerroooooookkkkuuuuuuuu," Shippo sang out, his thin voice echoing in the cave walls. "Saaaaaaaaangooooooooo..."  
  
The two stumbled around a cracked stalactite, and into an uneven cave. From somewhere nearby was the sound of water, and Miroku's foot squelched in what felt like wet moss. He grimaced, and looked up as a pair of tiny figures came bouncing out in front of him.  
  
"Shippo, we told you to not go inside," Miroku said sternly.  
  
"But I heard Inuyasha calling for me," Shippo said.   
  
"You heard Inuyasha?" Sango asked, interrupting Miroku.  
  
"Uh-huh." Shippo scampered onto Miroku's shoulder."But then something weird happened."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"There was this big wind that was pulling both of us in," Shippo said, rubbing his small hands together. "We managed to crawl into a crack and so it didn't pull us in. But I wanted to make sure Inuyasha was okay, so we came in here and got lost."  
  
"Did you find Inuyasha?" Sango asked.  
  
"No. I couldn't smell him either. You think that was a demon?"  
  
"Most likely," Miroku said grimly. "However, if this demon knows of Inuyasha, he and Kagome may be nearby."  
  
*  
  
"You holding on tight?" Inuyasha asked, gripping Kagome's knees. He grimaced, forcing himself not to shake. The back of his skull was still throbbing, where he had whacked it into the stupid rocks. And his ribs were still tingling from when Kagome had dropped on him. Not that he regretted it.  
  
"Uh huh," Kagome replied, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck.   
  
Inuyasha took a deep breath and jumped up into the darkness. As they soared up through the mountain, Kagome buried her face in Inuyasha's hair. She could sense a Shikon jewel shard nearby, but it seemed to be coming faintly from all directions.   
  
I won't mention it to Inuyasha, she thought as he landed lightly on a ledge, then jumped higher. If I tell him, he'll just get all bothered and frustrated and we still won't be able to find it.   
  
"Hold on tight!" Inuyasha said again. His silver hair swirled around him, and as Kagome raised her head, she could feel winds stirring across her face.  
  
"The winds!" she cried. "They're starting up again. It's trying to drag us back down!"  
  
"Hang on!" Inuyasha said again. He jumped onto a ledge, squinting against the wind, and leaped down. Kagome felt dizzy, watching the ground spiral closer and closer. Inuyasha landed heavily, fell to his knees, and quickly carried her behind a boulder. They braced themselves for the winds to start howling again.  
  
After a few more minutes of near-silence, Kagome said, "You think it changed its mind?"  
  
"Yeah, sure it did," Inuyasha said grimly. "Well, whatever 'it' is, 'it' doesn't intend to let us get back up there." He put his hand on the Tetsusaiga, as if to reassure himself that it was still there. "Let's go deeper. I'm gonna find this creep and melt him down to a puddle."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	20. Ice Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN  
  
*  
  
"We're lost, aren't we?"  
  
Inuyasha gritted his teeth, as if the very word "lost" was bugging him. "No, we're not," he said tightly. "To be lost, you have to have the slightest idea of where you are to start with. We don't know where we're going so-"  
  
"I don't follow that logic," Kagome said. She glanced around the darkened, dripping passage, wishing that she could see clearly. And though it bugged her to think she was hanging off Inuyasha's arm, that was what she was doing. At least he doesn't seem to mind that I'm... well, kind of clinging to him, she thought.  
  
Suddenly Inuyasha turned and put an arm in front of her. "Don't move," he whispered. "I can hear something up ahead." His ears twitched, and a strange look came over his face. He growled softly.  
  
"Is it the demon?" Kagome said. "I don't know. It sounds like... this is gonna sound stupid, but it sounds like the wind blowing."  
  
"But we're really deep in the mountain, right?" Kagome whispered. "How can the wind be blowing down here?"  
  
"'Zactly my thoughts," Inuyasha said grimly, drawing the Tetsusaiga. The blade lengthened and curved, turning from a nicked steel blade into a glowing fang. "Stay close to me, Kagome."  
  
"Okay," Kagome said, moving behind him and trying to follow his footsteps.  
  
The air was getting colder. Kagome could feel her skin stinging as a faint wind blew out from the tunnel ahead. Inuyasha glared into the darkness, holding the Tetsusaiga in front of him. "You have your bow, Kagome?"  
  
"I... no. I think Sango has it."  
  
"Too bad," Inuyasha said grimly. "But I can take on the abominable snowman, just you watch. When the fighting starts, stay out of the way. Just hide in a crack or something."  
  
"Sure, fine," Kagome said, slightly annoyed. It's not like I'm THAT helpless, she thought.  
  
Her fingers dug into his arm as he stepped into the cave, a high domed chamber ringed with stalagmites and stalactites, as thick as tree trunks and frosted over. Kagome could smell the clean, searing smell of a snowstorm, and the wind was whipping her long hair over her eyes. She brushed it away absently. "I don't like this," she mumbled. "Something about this cave feels wrong."  
  
Inuyasha sniffed the cold air. "Dammit. Nothing."  
  
"What exactly are you hoping to smell?" Kagome rubbed her numb hands together and blew on them.  
  
"Miroku. Sango. Shippo. The demon. Anything!" Inuyasha said tersely. "You're the only other thing I can smell here, except myself."  
  
"Maybe going deeper into the mountain is a bad idea. I mean, our friends should be here as backup, shouldn't they?"  
  
"We don't even know that they're still here," Inuyasha said. He sounded strangely sad and quiet. "We haven't seen 'em since the blizzard, remember? So we gotta do this on our own, or not at all!"  
  
Kagome felt mildly defeated, not to mention depressed at the idea that Sango, Miroku and Shippo might be lost to them, even for a little while. She bent over her hands to warm them, but a glimmer of light caught her eye. She looked up, and gasped. "Inuyasha, look-"  
  
Inuyasha leaped over to Kagome and stood in front of her. "I see it," he said grimly.  
  
Something was forming on the far wall of the cave. Bits of frost and ice were flickering like fireflies as they floated from the cave walls, swirled into a cloud. An unearthly glow, cold and bright as the sunlight on snow, began to shine from the middle of the cloud; a pair of blue eyes appeared high above them, flashing like a pair of strobe lights. And a Shikon jewel shard glimmered in the middle.  
  
"Who dares to enter?" the demon howled like the wind.  
  
Kagome gripped Inuyasha's sleeve. "I see the shard. It's... it's... it doesn't have a body, so I can't describe where it is. But it's definitely there."  
  
Inuyasha smiled fiercely. "Looks like we've hit paydirt," he said.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	21. Ice Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY  
  
*  
  
A blast of cold air hit Kagome's face like a wave. She flinched and moved behind Inuyasha, who stood his ground with the Tetsusaiga in his hand. "So you're the one who's frosted over this whole mountain!" he shouted. "Pretty cheap trick."  
  
The whirling snow-demon howled in indignation. "It is mine. The mountain is MINE. Mine only." The air seemed to grow colder. "Go away now, or be frozen."  
  
"Feh. Like I'm going to crawl away because of an overgrown snowflake," Inuyasha snorted. He started to raise Tetsusaiga over his head, but Kagome caught his wrist. "That might not be a good idea," she whispered.   
  
"Let GO!"  
  
"We're in a cave, dummy!" Kagome said, tugging on his arm. "You could end up crushing us both!"  
  
Inuyasha reconsidered, slowly lowering it. "So, I guess I'll have to do this the hard way," he said with a slight smile.   
  
Another keening howl came from the snow demon. Kagome blinked as a blast of snow hit her and Inuyasha both in the face. Inuyasha's golden eyes narrowed, but he didn't look away. With his free hand, he grabbed Kagome's wrist and pulled her behind his body. She peered under his arm at the eyes in the swirling mass of snow.  
  
"So what's the deal, demon?" Inuyasha said, grimacing. "Why'd you snow over this mountain and kill the travellers, and try to kill Kagome and me?"  
  
"I have lived here always," the snow demon retorted. The faint purple glint grew brighter; Inuyasha's eyes widened as he saw it. "This mountain is my home, and for long years I hid deep inside it when the warmth came and the snow melted from all but the peak. I did not have the strength to keep it cold, nor could I keep the humans from intruding...  
  
"Then, I came across a shard of the Shikon jewel shining in the show. With its power, I could spread the cold over my mountain, and rise out of hiding to destroy the humans who trespassed in my lands. Now begone, or I will freeze you both and leave you to be covered over by the snow."  
  
The jewel shard, Kagome thought, watching the purple glow spreading through the snow. I wasn't just seeing its glow in the storm -- I was seeing a reflection of its power. The snow demon doesn't have a body, so...  
  
"I don't know how tough you are," Inuyasha said, resting the Tetsusaiga on his shoulder. "But it's time for a thaw!"  
  
He leaped forward, swinging the Tetsusaiga at the eyes in the middle of the demon's whirling body. But as the blade brushed by the jewel shard, a white stream lashed out and wrapped itself around Inuyasha's wrists. He grunted in surprise; it was ice, locking his hands to the blade. "You're gonna have to do better'n that," he said darkly, as the ice began to crack.   
  
"SILENCE!" the demon screeched. Kagome covered her ears, wincing. "Go away!"  
  
"Not until you hand over that jewel shard!" Inuyasha snarled.   
  
"Never!" With that, the demon sent a round of shining, sharp objects darting toward Inuyasha. Inuyasha smashed the icicles in mid-air, growling softly. This ain't gonna be easy, he thought.   
  
*  
  
"Did you hear that?" Sango asked, pausing.  
  
Miroku started to answer, but Sango held up her hand. "Wait," she whispered. "Listen."  
  
At first, Miroku couldn't hear anything except the dripping of water from somewhere nearby. Something scuttled under a rock. Then he heard a familiar voice, shouting out-  
  
"Inuyasha!" Shippo squealed.   
  
"Be careful!" Miroku said, gripping his staff like a spear. "You were tricked by a voice once before, Shippo. This may be another deception. Follow me, and be prepared to run..." But in case it isn't, he thought, I better have these ready. He reached behind him, to Kagome's backpack. Her quiver and bow were tied to it.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	22. Ice Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE  
  
*  
  
For what seemed like the thousandth time, Inuyasha sent a blast from the Tetsusaiga at the snow-demon. He felt a cold gust of wind almost blow him off his feet, and a cold, wet spray hardening on the back of his neck. Then it hardened, freezing. He growled.  
  
Dammit! he thought as the ice around his throat cracked and crumbled away. He wasn't being seriously hurt by the demon's attacks so far -- but the ice was burning his skin, especially on his hands. His fingers were red, and he felt like his skin was sticking to the Tetsusaiga's hilt. Wincing, he stepped back closer to Kagome and huddled behind a rock. "I can't hit him," he growled. "It passes right through him."  
  
The demon screeched at them to go away again.  
  
Kagome clutched one of Inuyasha's hands and examined it. He yanked it away before she could get a better look. "If I had my arrows I could help you," she started.  
  
"No point in saying that, 'cause you don't," Inuyasha said, staring over the edge of the rock. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Get down!"  
  
He seized Kagome roughly and pushed her down. Something roared right over her, and she felt a strange tingle pass over her back and head. When she looked up, frost fell from her long black hair. She could see her breath.  
  
"Looks like the abominable snowman's decided to get nasty," Inuyasha said, grimacing. His knuckles cracked loudly as he stood up. "Stay here, Kagome. I can stand this guy's attacks, but you can't."  
  
Kagome opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again. He was right. She had almost fallen asleep on him the night before, because of the cold. And she couldn't dodge as fast as he could. I'd only be in the way, she thought unhappily, crouching down.   
  
The snow-demon now resembled a tornado, a whirling mass of snow spinning in place. To Kagome's eyes, a faint purple glow was suffusing every flake -- but it was strongest around the shard itself, floating in the middle. Her fingers ached for her bow and arrows -- if she had then, she could at least partly melt that stupid demon. But she had left them with Miroku.  
  
"Yeah, big mean demon has to hide in a cave," Inuyasha sneered, holding up Tetsusaiga. "You're just a bag of cold air."  
  
The glowing eyes shimmered slightly. And a blast of icy wind smashed into Inuyasha like a giant hand, crashing him back into the stone wall. For a moment he lay pinned, the cold rock crushing into his back, smashing the breath from him. Then, straining against the snow-demon's hold, he raised the Tetsusaiga and slashed it down.  
  
The wind seemed to split, spraying frost in both directions. "What--" the demon screeched.  
  
Inuyasha tumbled to the ground, gasping. Then he grinned slightly. "So, you may not be vulnerable to my Tetsusaiga, but I can cut away your attacks easily. This is where the real fighting starts, isn't it?" he said.  
  
The snow-demon seemed to shrink slightly, the eyes growing dimmer. The shard's glow began to fall back on it, as if the demon's power were retracting. Inuyasha heard an ominous creaking from somewhere nearby, but as he looked above his head --  
  
"INUYASHA, LOOK OUT!" Kagome shrieked.  
  
Inuyasha leaped aside as a stalactite crashed to the floor, shattering the stone. When the dust cleared, only a few scattered pieces remained. Inuyasha hid his shock quickly behind a grimace. Another few seconds, and the stalactite would have crushed him -- or at least wounded him enough for the demon to freeze him.  
  
But the demon's glowing eyes slowly turned to Kagome, flickering with rage. "Yooouuuuu giiiiirrrrllll..." it shrieked above the howl of its own wind. "You should have stayed out of this..."  
  
"Don't you touch her!" Inuyasha bellowed, lunging at the demon.  
  
But he was too late. A blast of cold wind roared at Kagome, throwing her to the stony ground -- followed by a searing chill that spread over her skin and seemed to lock her in ice. The cave seemed to go dark, and distantly she could hear Inuyasha screaming her name, saw a flash of him running toward her with the Tetsusaiga...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	23. Ice Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE  
  
*  
  
"KAGOME!"  
  
Inuyasha's voice split the sound of the wind. He saw Kagome's face vanish under a thin veil of ice. It darkened and grew thicker, blurring her face from sight. As he turned toward her, he saw the ice solidify and harden, a crystalline stalagmite with a dark shape at its core.  
  
"Go away!" the demon screeched. "Or you will be frozen next!"  
  
"NO!" Inuyasha threw himself toward the pillar of ice and smashed his fist into it. Thin cracks spread around his fingers like spider legs. Inuyasha hit it again, then dug his claws into the cracks and began tearing chunks of the ice out of. Hang on, Kagome! he thought. I'm going to get you out of there...  
  
A blast of ice hit him in the back. Inuyasha shuddered but kept digging through the ice, groping for something -- anything. "Kagome!" he shouted again, hoping that she might still hear him.  
  
Suddenly his fingers closed on hers. Inuyasha gasped. Her skin was cold and wet, like a statue left out in the snow. He clawed at the ice, hearing it crack and shear away. Then Kagome tumbled out onto the snow, covered in shards of ice and touched by frost. Inuyasha picked her up, feeling her cold body shift slightly in his arms. She's still breathing, he thought. Damn him...  
  
"Now you see!" the demon howled triumphantly. "You see! You see!"  
  
Inuyasha brushed the snow off his legs as he got up. "How dare you do that," he growled softly, turning around. Tetsusaiga transformed in his hand as he lunged forward, shouting at the top of his voice.  
  
*  
  
Kagome woke up to the sound of echoes. Inuyasha's voice shattered the howl of the demon wind, seemed to split the darkness.   
  
She felt cold and numb all over. It feels like my eyelashes are frozen shut, she thought, trying to open her eyes. She was lying on a windblown drift of snow, which was making her skin prickle as her arms and hands came back to life.  
  
She rubbed her half-dead hands over her eyes, brushing tiny icicles out of them. "Inu.... yasha..." she whispered.  
  
As her blurry vision cleared, she saw him. He was slashing at the demon's whirling, tornado-like body. But he wasn't making much headway. The wind was whipping into his face and body, almost throwing him backwards. Kagome could see a broken mask of ice on his pale face, and a thin sheen of frost covering his hands and the hilt of his sword.  
  
He's losing, Kagome thought desperately. He can't fight against the cold -- he looks like he can barely breathe and see when it blasts him with ice. If only I had some heat -- matches or something -- or a torch...  
  
Suddenly the demon's attacks lessened; it seemed to shrink back into the cavern. Inuyasha shook the snow from his hair and shoulders and threw himself forward... only to leap back as an enormous boomerang shot past him, cutting through the snow-demon's stormlike body. It howled again, more out of anger than pain.  
  
"Kagome!" a girl's voice called. "Are you there? Are you all right?" Three dark, familiar shapes appeared at the far end of the cavern.   
  
"Sango! Miroku! Shippo!" Kagome cried. She tried to stand up, only to have her nerveless legs drop her on her face.   
  
Sango ran over to Kagome's side, while Miroku started to pull the rosary from his wrist. "Don't worry, I can suck it in!" he shouted. "Inuyasha, back away!"  
  
"NO!" Inuyasha bellowed, staggering a few steps away from the demon. He stared at Miroku with wild eyes. "It has a jewel shard! You suck it in with that damn hand of yours, and the shard will never be seen again!"  
  
Grimacing, Miroku replaced the beads on his wrist. "Inuyasha, battling a snow demon is like trying to threaten a thunderstorm. Do you think you can stop it with the Tetsusaiga?"  
  
"That's the idea!" Inuyasha shouted. "Get off your butt and help me cut the jewel out!"  
  
The demon's shrieking cry rang out again, almost deafening Kagome and Sango. A blast of ice shards spattered them like hail. Shippo huddled against Kagome's numb leg, fluffing out his bushy tail. He clutched at Kagome's hand with his tiny, cold, pointy fingers. Wait a minute, Kagome thought. Cold... pointy...  
  
"Sango!" she said. "Quick, do you still have my arrows?"   
  
"They're with Miroku."  
  
"Get them for me! I can stop this demon!"  
  
Sango fastened her mask over her mouth and nose, and lunged into the white whirlwind. Kagome saw her stagger toward the taller, flapping figure that was Miroku, then stumble back out. Her dark eyes were almost frozen shut, and ice had clogged up the filter mask. She dropped the bow and arrows at Kagome's side, then fell to her knees. "Y-You think this will work?" she said, shivering.  
  
"It'll work!" Kagome said, hoping she sounded confident.  
  
More ice fell from the bowstring as she nocked an arrow and aimed it. She could see Inuyasha faintly through the snow. All I have to do is aim by him, she thought. If I can burn away the snow around him, it will give him a moment when he can see clearly. He can cut the jewel out and take it! Just hit the mark!  
  
The arrow shot through the snowstorm, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. For a moment the air cleared, as heat blasted past Inuyasha. For a moment, Kagome saw him standing there, a little confused and with water dripping down his flushed face. Then he smiled a little bit, seeing the jewel shard in front of him -- and he slashed at it with the Tetsusaiga.  
  
The demon shrieked again, this time with pain.  
  
"I got it!" Inuyasha shouted triumphantly. Kagome could see the purplish glow from inside his fist. "Miroku, do your thing!"  
  
"Happy to!" Miroku shouted. He tore the beads off his hand and held it up.  
  
A blast of icy air threw Inuyasha toward the girls, but he was already running in their direction. The demon had shrunken in and was no longer shrieking so loudly. But then the rushing void in Miroku's hand was sucking it in, dragging in rocks and stalactites. With a last piteous scream, it vanished.   
  
A deathly cold silence fell over the cavern. It was broken when Kagome piped up, "My feet are numb. Anybody got a blanket?"  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	24. Ice Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE  
  
*  
  
Kagome woke up to warmth. She was being carried on Inuyasha's back -- he's so WARM, she thought, resting her head on his shoulder. But he wasn't the only warm thing there. The wind smelled like flowers and springtime, and though Kagome hadn't noticed it before, it was WARM. The sky was almost dark, except for a light band in the west; stars were surfacing around the moon.  
  
She sighed deeply. I'm just glad I didn't get frostbite or whatever from that ice blast the demon spat at me, she thought.   
  
"She's awake, Inuyasha," Miroku said.   
  
"Hrm?" Inuyasha said. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "You feelin' any better?"  
  
"Yeah," Kagome said, yawning. "I'm just tired. The cold's almost gone."  
  
"It was certainly fortunate that your arrows were still there," Miroku said, walking alongside Inuyasha. "You dispersed the cold around Inuyasha and severely wounded the demon in the process. If you hadn't, I suspect we would have all joined that unfortunate man whom Inuyasha told me about."  
  
Kagome shivered. "So you guys were lured into the caves too?" she asked drowsily.  
  
"Shippo and Kirara were," Sango said. "We went in after them. I suppose you two were distracting the demon when we arrived at the mouth of the cave."  
  
"What was wrong with that stupid demon?" Kagome asked, looking up. "It just kept yelling at us to leave. It was sort of like a little kid."  
  
"A really little kid," Inuyasha muttered.  
  
"Such a unique demon," Miroku said a trifle sadly. "It's quite unfortunate that its protective instincts were roused even further when it gained possession of a jewel shard. At the point when we found it, I doubt that anything but death would have stopped it, even if we took the jewel shard."  
  
"You got the jewel shard, right?" Kagome asked, closing her eyes.   
  
"I placed it with mine, since you were asleep," Miroku said. "When we return home, I'll give it to you to place with the others."  
  
Kagome sighed, half-asleep and tempted to just let herself drift away. Inuyasha was so WARM, like a giant heated body pillow. But one question still clung to her mind and made her mumble, "Hey, what's gonna happen to the mountain now that the demon's gone?"  
  
"Massive thaws," Miroku said sagely. "And then, I imagine all the snow on its peak will be natural. And once the flooding abates, the storms and unseasonal weather will stop, and travelers will be able to go through mountain passes with ease."  
  
Miroku fell back to talking with Sango softly, keeping his arms well above her backside; Shippo was snoring on Kirara's back. Inuyasha began walking faster, with Kagome still nestled on his back. His face tightened slightly as he looked back at her, remembered how that damn demon had sealed her in ice. If he hadn't been there...  
  
He thought she was asleep. But suddenly her voice piped up, "How far is it to Kaede's village?"  
  
"'Bout a half hour's walk."  
  
"Oh, good."  
  
"Want me to take you back to your time?"  
  
"No, you don't have to. Just take me back to the village."  
  
"Anything you need when we get there?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
"Just get me a blanket," Kagome mumbled.  
  
THE END 


End file.
